Row of women archers, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections CC BY 2.0

Quick hit: Google Science Fair winners “all about girl power”

Here’s some talented young women in science showing off their lego trophies:

Google Science Fair Winners (from left to right): Lauren Hodge, Shree Bose, Naomi Shah

Google Science Fair Winners (from left to right): Lauren Hodge, Shree Bose, Naomi Shah

Our judges said the unifying elements of all three young women were their intellectual curiosity, their tenaciousness and their ambition to use science to find solutions to big problems. They examined complex problems and found both simple solutions that can be implemented by the general public—like changing your cooking habits or removing toxins from your home—as well as more complex solutions that can be addressed in labs by doctors and researchers, such as Shree’s groundbreaking discovery, which could have wider implications for cancer research.

You can read more about their projects and the science fair on the official Google blog. Note: Although all three of these talented youngsters are all female, this was not a women-in-science event.

10 thoughts on “Quick hit: Google Science Fair winners “all about girl power”

  1. Lukas Blakk

    OK I’ve read it a couple of times and I can’t stop being bothered by the sentence: “Note that the science fair wasn’t a women-in-science event; these young women beat a lot of other talented youngsters to take home those trophies!”

    Is there a way to phrase that so everyone feels good and people who win at women-in-science things can still feel like it’s also a solid victory? I’m pretty sure that’s the intent for this note but it’s coming across a bit off, like winning at a women-in-science event would be a lesser win.

    1. Terri

      Sometimes people assume, upon seeing winners who are all women, that the event must have been gender-limited, and that was not the case for this science fair although Google is fairly well-known for sponsoring women-centric events. I just wanted to make that clear for people who might not click through the link to read more about the competition.

      I don’t think clarifying that the competition was open to all is somehow denigrating other wins. It’s not like I said “and they totally beat boys so they’re extra awesome!” I just said they beat a lot of other talented competitors. But if anyone can suggest another phrasing that works better, please do.

      1. Lukas Blakk

        Well that makes a lot of sense, and so perhaps that would be a great way to phrase it – “Note: Even though it may appear so at first since all three of these talented youngsters are all female, this was not a women-in-science event.”

  2. Ingrid Jakobsen

    I want to hug this post and save it for my (three-month old) daughter to counterbalance all the pink fairy princess stuff, and movies with only male characters, she’s going to be exposed to. And on the other hand, I hope I will have heaps more examples like it by the time she can understand it.

  3. Rebecca

    My name is Rebecca and I am an intern at Teen Voices, a magazine that seeks to support and educate teen girls to amplify their voices and create social change through media. It is so wonderful that these young women have been so successful in science. Too often these days young woman do not reach their full potential in the sciences because it is considered a man’s subject. Kudos to these young ladies!

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